A Haunting Article

I read a very disturbing, emotion provoking story about orphanages in Bulgaria in the local Sunday paper yesterday and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind ever since.

Here's an excerpt of it-

"Walking the halls of an infant orphanage in Sofia, Bulgaria, I heard the shrill sound of a screaming baby. Finding myself alone, I quickly opened the door to a small room where I found the baby frantic and trembling. His skinny arms and tiny fingers grasped desperately for comfort. It was against protocol for me to interact with the infant without permission, so I stood there, my heart breaking, and watched this tiny baby struggle. Where was the cozy blanket to swaddle his newborn body? Where were the gentle hands or soothing reassurances of his mother? This precious infant could not understand, and so he screamed on. He had not yet learned that no one would rescue him and that crying would bring no response. Soon he would give up trying, just like the other orphans lying quietly in their cribs. But until then, this tiny newborn was put in a room alone to scream himself into silence before being warehoused with the other soundless babies." — Deborah Dushku Gardner

One visit to an orphanage in Bulgaria was enough to change the course of Deborah Dushku Gardner's life forever.

It was 1993, and Gardner was serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As she entered the neglected facility, Gardner was encircled by a throng of 3- and 4-year-old children, each of them crying, "Mama, mama," in the hope that she had come to take them home.

"That was really disturbing to me, to see all those children needing attention and love and not having anyone to give it to them," Gardner remembers. "I picked them up, as many of them as I could hold in my arms, and I thought, 'One day I'm gonna come back here and do something to change this."

And she did.

The article goes on if you want to read it here.

If you are a local Utahn they are having a benefit concert to raise funds for the orphanages this weekend.

After reading this it made me go into a "save the world" mode, where I felt like I had to do something for these poor children. Then I had to take a step back and remember that I have children of my own to nurture and raise. I still want to help in some way though. Maybe I should go to Bulgaria and take a particular "nestling" with me, not mentioning any names, but maybe then the whining about being bored and not having the things he wants would cease. What do you think?